Abstract

This book offers practical approaches to improve and empower the lives of at-risk, low-income, urban-based girls and young women. It does this by presenting successful projects from around the world which clearly demonstrate what can be done on a broad range of fronts, and answers the two key questions: what do at-risk urban girls and young women need?; what kind of programmes have been successful in meeting those needs? The book begins with a comprehensive overview of the plight of young disadvantaged women, and defines who they are, why they need special attention and most importantly, the four main contributing factors working against these women: poverty, age, gender and ethnicity. In the rest of the book, the authors use real case studies and models based on projects from Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa and the USA, and illustrate how they have been successful in combating these four factors and empowering young women against them. These examples include income generation and vocational training schemes, formal and non-formal education programmes and health and mental well-being programmes. The final chapter looks at how boys and men can become involved in the efforts to improve girls' and young women's lives. The book concludes with important and authoritative recommendations for both advocacy and service delivery work which will be essential reading for all agencies working with young women.